Expression patterns of Hox10 paralogous genes during lumbar spinal cord development.

We have examined the expression of three paralogous Hox genes from E11.5 through E15.5 in the mouse spinal cord. These ages coincide with major phases of spinal cord neurogenesis, neuronal differentiation, cell migration, gliogenesis, and motor neuron cell death. The three genes, Hoxa10, Hoxc10, and Hoxd10, are all expressed in the lumbar spinal cord and have distinct expression patterns. Mutations in these three genes are known to affect motor neuron patterning. All three genes show lower levels of expression at the rostral limits of their domains, with selective regions of higher expression more caudally. Hoxa10 and Hoxd10 expression appears confined to postmitotic cell populations in the intermediate and ventral gray, while Hoxc10 is also expressed in proliferating cells in the dorsal ventricular zone. Hoxc10 and Hoxd10 expression is clearly excluded from the lateral motor columns at rostral lumbar levels but is present in this region more caudally. Double labeling demonstrates that Hoxc10 expression is correlated with ventrolateral LIM gene expression in the caudal part of the lumbar spinal cord.